While I was living at home, growing up with my little friends, playing on my swing set in the back yard or sitting on my Daddy’s lap as he told me beautiful princess stories or that the monsters in my closet had been scared away; my life seemed so simple.
Daddy never explained how difficult it was in the real world – there was no need for he never focused on the day that some day his little girl would be on her own. I was his little girl and that was his only concern.
That was more than 30 years ago. Although I was never set down and instructed on how to face the real world I did learn a lot simply by remembering dad and how he got us from day to day.
My name is Brenda Lee. Drawing on my experience while growing up I always felt I had been living a responsible life and had no fears regarding my future. I have no credit card debt, absolutely none whatsoever. I own my own vehicles and for the past eight years I have been on the path to owning a home I could easily afford. Daddy’s little girl could handle anything.
I often augmented my mortgage payments with two or three additional principal payments. My goal was not to focus on a 30 year mortgage but rather, pay for my home in 15 years or less. Before the economy spiraled out of control I had accumulated some sizable equity. Additionally, I typically kept six months to a year’s reserve of cash on hand for emergencies. You would think this would make me almost recession proof.
My business, a construction company, fell victim, like so many others, to the Georgia drought at first and then the downturn in the housing industry finished it off. It actually began experiencing serious shortfalls before November of 2007. It became obvious things were going to get worse. In March of 2008 I was forced to leave the day to day duties and seek a more secure income. I returned to work for the same owner of the Chevrolet dealership I had left fifteen years ago. The extra money helped and life still seemed good.
The construction company was not producing regular work or projects. It was time to shut it down. We had seventeen employees. The hardest part was telling them they could no longer depend on us to support their family.
In April of 2008 my husband of 8 years went to work at a pre-stressed concrete company. That was a BIG change. However, the change was short lived. In August of 2008 he was given a medical leave of absence from his employer. After having completed a 90 day probationary period he was given a full physical so he could work as a vested employee. This was wonderful news for car sales were beginning to plummet and, following suit, so was my income. He flunked the physical. The doctor found a small hernia. He was immediately let go.
To add insult to injury, in January of this year I was diagnosed with cancer. I am currently being treated with chemo and radiation. I am scheduled for surgery in May.
I have survived 7 recessions through out the years. This was proving to be a little rough but we were promised “change we can believe in” so I really wasn’t all that concerned.
We were, for 17 months, just meeting our financial obligations without seeking government aid of any sort before we began losing ground. Unemployment kept rising each week and for a 57 year old man jobs were becoming very scarce. Setting his pride aside my husband applied for any type of employment – even minimum wage entry positions in the fast food industry - but to no avail. Reluctantly he signed up for food stamps and unemployment. I am currently on disability.
Before the cancer there was nothing on the horizon that would have indicated additional problems. When my credit score was still in the 700’s I applied for and received two unsecured loans to rescue my home from foreclosure. I had not been diagnosed with cancer at that time so I viewed these loans as my mini bailout so to speak. Spending my way out of debt conflicted with my up-bringing but that was the tone resonating from Washington so against my better judgment, I gave it a try.
Now medical co-pay bills and insurance bills as well as basic living expenses consume the majority of our income. We no longer have cash reserves. We can’t even consider renting as an option. We’re broke! My Beacon score has fallen in the past year so refinancing may require divine intervention or Change We Can Believe In.
We have never lived foolishly or spent money we did not have. It appears as though living responsibly, however, no longer counts. My property is to go into foreclosure again. Lost income due to the combination of the economic contraction and our health requirements exhausted our reserves.
I have written to our two Senators as well as an Economic Professor, of the University of Pennsylvania. I have been reading about reverse mortgages and equity release options hoping to find a solution there. Thus far, no one has answered my inquiries.
My husband is 57 years of age and with exception of his hernia, he is in extremely good health. I am 46 years old and my cancer seems to be responding favorably to chemo and radiation treatments. After my operation , on May 28th, hopefully this health issue will be reduced to nothing more than a bump in the road and I can return to work full time. For the time being I was told to engage in some sort of therapy. At my request my husband builds bird houses and I paint them. I’m actually getting rather good at it considering just a year ago I couldn’t even draw bath water.
What we find particularly discouraging is we have been unable to find any programs to assist homeowners that could have otherwise weathered this downturn were it not for medical concerns.
I have spoken with several of my mortgage company’s associates. Some have been kind while some have been rather rude but none, thus far, have been helpful. They refuse to accept full or partial mortgage payments and the last suggestion I received from my lender was: “wait to see what this Obama thing will do”. As it turns out, it does nothing and now my mortgage company wants me in the street on May 5th, Literally.
I was not brought up to whine or complain about rough rides but this just doesn’t make sense. I still have over 50K in equity in my home and they refuse to work with me because we are both on a limited and ambiguous income. As silly as that may sound, it is true. This is almost legal theft.
I am at my wits end. We have no family to fall back on. “Change we can believe in” turned out to be nothing more than a campaign promise never defined and never to be kept. In 25 years of voting I have heard many hollow campaign promises but never has one echoed so prominently through the halls of silence.
I began this letter thinking I would ask complete strangers for assistance. That just doesn’t set well with me. I wasn’t brought up that way. I had to compromise somehow. In an effort to keep my home from going into foreclosure before I go into surgery my husband and I have agreed to sell heirlooms and collectables which I have listed on my website and Facebook page. Even this compromise is somewhat of a psychological challenge but hopefully there will be years to come where we can start other collections.
Brenda Lee
Brenda Lee, One Time cancer survivor now batteling a second round of a new cancer all together.
